Dominick Cruz, admittedly, was looking for seventh-grade soccer tryouts when he first found a wrestling room.

He viewed the strange sight. The Tucson, Ariz. middle schooler had never seen organized wrestling before, and the warm-ups and drills going on seemed very foreign. A coach spotted him in the doorway and yelled to him, he told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

“What do you weigh?” the man said.

Cruz kindly explained he was actually looking for other tryouts, but the coach shook his head.

“You’re a wrestler now,” the coach said.

And so he was. Starting then, the always athletic Cruz turned wrestling into his focus. Through years of high school participating and coaching and summers on the freestyle circuit, Cruz gained a knowledge of movement that has helped make the 24-year-old San Diego resident into one of the WEC’s most promising featherweights.

After a Saturday unanimous decision victory against Joseph Benavidez at WEC 42, Cruz is 14-1, including 4-1 with four consecutive wins in the WEC. That’s impressive, those around Cruz say, because he did most of his own work as he pulled himself up as an early professional.

Cruz, in fact, still paid for his own gym membership until he was 7-0 as a pro. All along, he realized two things: He didn’t want to work on the ground just because he has a wrestling background, and he needed to give the fans a good show when he fought.

With those standards, Cruz is a growing crowd favorite, partially because of his attitude that led him to once quit his three jobs, pack his belongings into his car and move to San Diego without knowing if it would sink or raise his career.

And all of that came because he once wandered into a wrestling room and the team needed a smaller member.

“I went to practice that day, and I’ve never quit since,” Cruz said.

Wrestling year-round

By then, Cruz was already involved in just about every sport imaginable. His parents had split when he was 5, and his mother raised him and his younger brother in Tucson. To pass the time, Cruz played basketball, baseball, soccer and was even involved in BMX.

When the wrestling coach walked over and invited Cruz into the room, he followed the coach to the scale. He was 73 pounds.

“In seventh grade, that’s teeny, man,” Cruz said.

The team needed a member that light, so Cruz hopped right into practice, first learning how to shoot and how to defend. It was his first experience with organized wrestling, and it fit him.

The first season was rough, as Cruz worked to learn the fundamentals and was drilled by more experienced opponents. He asked the coaches what he could do to improve, and they suggested learning the freestyle form of wrestling, practiced in a traveling summer circuit.

Cruz took their advice to heart. Growing up in a home without a father since he was 5, Cruz needed those kinds of father-type figures in his life, and he stresses that the coaches he’s had along the way – from wrestling to MMA – have filled that void to help guide him.

By the next school season, with a summer of freestyle on his resume, Cruz was vastly improved. He continued his success through high school, but torn ligaments in his ankle that didn’t heal properly sidetracked any hope of participating in college, so Cruz started taking odd jobs.

There was the valet parking job at a hotel. He coached wrestling at his old high school. He worked at the local Lowe’s. He was also taking classes at a local college with the hope of finding his educational passion.

Then, much like in seventh grade, Cruz wandered into a gym.

Pro right away

At 19, Cruz went in to look at Boxing Inc., a local gym he noticed in Tucson. He started with boxing classes then moved to some martial arts training. All the while, he was also working out while coaching the wrestling team, so his training advanced.

Before long, others at the gym encouraged Cruz to take an MMA fight. So what the hell, he figured. What could it hurt?

In January 2005, Cruz had his first professional fight that he didn’t know was a professional fight until they handed him the check for $50 when he was done.

“I was at 142,” Cruz said, “and the other guy was 163.”

Without knowing much about submissions, Cruz struggled to defend himself against the more experienced opponent. He was skilled on the ground, of course, but he couldn’t produce his own submission moves. With the slip-outs and effort, Cruz earned a split decision victory.

Within 13 months, Cruz was 6-0 as a pro fighting in Rage in the Cage events. Then, he caught a break. Total Combat needed an opponent for a July 2006 fight with Dave Hisquierdo, and company officials had heard about Cruz. He took the fight short notice.

“I had been training for another fight,” Cruz said. “I thought, ‘Screw it. I’ll take it. I’ve been training. It’s just two days’ notice, but that’s cool.'”

Still without a coach, manager or even a corner man, Cruz drove to San Diego for the fight that ended up being a split-decision victory.

“He broke my nose, he dropped me twice, but I dropped him twice in the third round,” Cruz said. “That fight did a lot for me.”

A manager in San Diego noticed Cruz and invited him to the city to train. Cruz promptly quit his three jobs, left school, packed up the car and drove off, still unsure if MMA was going to be a success for him.

Meanwhile, he kept winning. After taking the Total Combat 145-pound title to go 9-0, Cruz’s management called up the WEC and asked for a chance. He was given his shot against Urijah Faber at WEC 26.

“It was the first time I was even in a fight camp,” Cruz said.

It was Cruz’s only loss, a tap-out via guillotine choke in the first round. Despite the setback, Cruz was added to the WEC 24 card and beat Charlie Valencia by decision. Since, Cruz has stopped Ian McCall, Ivan Lopez and, just four days ago, Benavidez.

With the momentum, Cruz no longer has to do everything on his own, but that drive he learned in his early days has continued now that he has found success.

“I never really had anybody helping me out when I was getting started,” Cruz said. “I had to do a lot of things myself. I would line up guys at the gym and say, ‘OK, you come at me, then you come at me, then you come at me.’ I was paying my own way, I earned every part of it, and I think that helped make me a better fighter.”

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